The transcriptional regulation of lymphocyte and dendritic cell development

血液中不同的细胞类型，如红血球和白血球，是由一种罕见的干细胞在骨髓中产生的。干细胞的一个重要特征是它能够平衡增殖和产生不同类型细胞的需要(称为分化)和保持足够数量的干细胞处于原始状态的需要(称为自我更新)。这种平衡的结果是，在整个生命过程中，产生了惊人数量的细胞，这些细胞需要取代每天失去的细胞。这一壮举是由少数几个重要的主调控基因控制的，这些基因在一个层次上起作用，促进分化过程。这种严格控制和多步骤调控是必不可少的，因为未能协调血细胞生产是许多血细胞癌症的根本原因，如白血病以及免疫缺陷和贫血。这项研究旨在了解这些主调节因子如何单独和共同作用，产生我们对微生物的免疫反应、疫苗接种和预防癌症所需的白细胞。

The distinct cell types of the blood, such as red and white blood cells, are produced in the bone marrow from a rare stem cell. An important characteristic of the stem cell is its ability to balance the need to proliferate and produce the distinct cell types (termed differentiation) and the need to maintain an adequate number of stem cells in their primitive state (termed self-renewal). The outcome of this balance is the production, throughout life, of an astounding number of cells that are required to replace those lost each day. This feat is controlled by a handful of important master-regulatory genes that act in a hierarchy to promote the differentiation process. This tightly controlled and multi-step regulation is essential, as failure to coordinate blood cell production is the underlying cause of many blood cell cancers such as leukaemia as well as immune deficiency and anaemia. This research aims to understand how these master-regulators function in isolation and together in producing the white blood cells that are required for our immune response to microbes, vaccination and to prevent cancer.